GPSC release its 2017 performance with a net profit of Bt. 3,175 million, rising 18%, or around Bt. 475 million from the previous year due to rising revenue from sales of electricity and steam from the central utility plants in Rayong and IRPC Clean Power (Phase 2). Besides, the company also booked in equity-based benefit from projects that it has partnered with, making the company to be ready to pay dividend for 2017 performance at Bt. 1.25 per share which was paid for 1H at Bt.0.45 per share on September 11, 2017 and for 2H at Bt. 0.80 per share.
Dr.Toemchai Bunnag, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Power Synergy Public Company Limited or GPSC, the innovative power flagship of PTT Group, said GPSC had total revenue of Bt. 19,917 million, making its net profit to be at Bt. 3,175 million, rising 18% from the previous year due to rising revenue from sales of electricity and steam from several projects. The rises in total revenue comprised of IRPC Clean Power Project Phase 2 (IRPC-CP2) with total capacity of 240 MW which has started commercial operation date (COD) since November 2017. Besides, there was also rising revenue from the sales of electricity and steam of the central utility plants in Rayong with the capacity of 339 MW of power, 1,340 tons per hour of steam and 2,000 cubic meters of processed water for industrial factories of PTT Group. These plants in Rayong had no maintenance last year, allowing it to generate rising revenue for the company for the whole year.
Moreover, GPSC also had additional profit incurred by stakes which it holds in other power plants, including the Bangpa-in Cogeneration 2 (BIC2), which is a 117 MW power plant that GPSC holds 25%, starting commercial operation date in June 2017. Besides, there is also additional revenue from Nava Nakon Power Plant (NNEG), which GPSC holds 30% stake with the capacity of 125 MW that started generating revenue for the company for the first year.
“Rising profit in 2017 comes from competence of our team, who have strong experience in managing and operating power plant businesses, while all of the power and utilities projects have been done on time, making the company to start commercial operation date as we planned. Moreover, the high efficiency in safety control has helped the company to operate projects without any accident and manage to run the projects with highest efficiency and reliability. It helped prevent unexpected maintenance and allowed us to generate power and steam to our clients as committed,” said Dr.Toemchai.
For the 4th quarter of 2017, the company has a net profit of Bt. 722 million, rising 72% from the same period of last year, due to rising revenue from sales of power and utilities plants in Rayong and also rising revenue from 2 phases of IRPC-CP that has been booked in the quarter.
As a result, the company’s Board of Directors has agreed on February 12, 2018, to pay dividend for 2017 performance at Bt.1.25 per share, or a total Bt.1,873 million. This is equivalent to 59 % of net profit. The dividend payment included an interim dividend for the first half of 2017 (Jan-June 2017), which has been paid at Bt.0.45 per share. Therefore, the rest of the dividend to be paid for the second half of the year (July-Dec 2017) of Bt. 0.80 per share. Therefore, the Record Date for the right to attend 2018 Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting and receive the dividend will be on February 28, 2018 and the dividend payment date of Bt. 0.80 per share will be on April 20, 2018 after obtaining approval from the 2018 Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting.
For business direction in 2018, GPSC will continue on the strategy to maintain business operation in Maptaphut, where is the strong potential area of rising investment. The company aimed at increasing the number of power generating capacity and also the number of clients, particularly in term of electricity and steam which demand is expected to rise higher in the particular investment zone of Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), where PTT Group also has planned to increase the investment in. GPSC, as power and utilities flagship of the group, is now ready to invest more in increasing power generating capacity and developing new power innovation, particularly Energy Storage System (ESS), for the further development of smart grid that would help support other development project of PTT Group, which will be provided to our clients in the future.